ANALOGIES OP THE CHAMELEONS. l65 



eminent degree, and impart them almost universally to all 

 genera having similar analogies : nearly every species of 

 woodpecker has the head more or less crested, while in 

 the hornbiUs, equally representing these groups, the crest 

 assumes the form of a bony or keel-shaped helmet, as 

 similar to that of the chameleons as can well be supposedr 

 Nor is the analogy of the chameleons to the Scansores 

 an isolated resemblance in their own circles : traces of 

 a mutual relation between the other groups may be 

 detected, as the following table will show : — 



Analogies of the Chameleons. 



Families of ^ r • „ Tribes of 



Lizards. Analogies, Perchers. 



Chameleonidffi. Feet syndactyle; tail prehensile. Scansores. 



Againidffi. j Throat dilated, often ornament- 7 Tenuirostres. 



" i ed with a fringe. J 



Scincoidffl. Feet remarkably short. Fissirostres. 



Lacertidje. Climb among trees. Insessores. 



Iguanids. [ Clawslong,sometimes retractile ) r tores. 



^ i m the hzards ; neverclimb. j**^"*"-" 



The only birds which, as a whole, have their wide 

 throats ornamented with ruffs of feathers, are the hum- 

 ming-birds and the common ruffed sandpiper, both 

 being tenuirostral types. Clamydosaures, Sitana, and 

 even Draco thus find their analogies among the hum- 

 ming-birds. The three other columns singularly agree, 

 for the LacertidcE, like the Insessores, have the greatest 

 powers of prehension, while the offensive nature of the 

 dorsal spines in the typical Iguanidcs evince to us 

 that one type in the circle is hurtful, though far 

 less so than the Crotalidce, or poisonous snakes among 

 the serpents, which again represent the Iguanidcs, by 

 their large and heart-shaped head, and their narrow 

 neck. In the fork-tongued lizards, on the contrary, as 

 well as in the ColuheridcB, or harmless snakes, the head 

 is small, without any external separation from the 

 trunk. We could pursue this most interesting subject 

 much further, did our space permit. But enough has 



M S 



